Adnan Mansour said the Lebanese-Syrian border is highly interpenetrated what may help smuggling of arms from and into both countries but assured that the Lebanese army managed to control and monitor the border to a great extent

Lebanon Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has said the Lebanese-Syrian border is highly interpenetrated what may help smuggling of arms from and into both countries but assured that the Lebanese army managed to control and monitor the border to a great extent.

“No country in the world can control its borders completely. Lebanese-Syrian borders are highly interpenetrated something that helps gangs to smuggle arms from and towards both countries through infiltrating some weak spots throughout the border,” Mansour, who is on an official visit to Moscow, said during a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart.

Nevertheless, Mansour added, the Lebanese army managed to control and monitor the border and stop the smuggling to a great extent making several arrests.

The Lebanese FM reminded of the huge record of violations to Lebanon’s sovereignty by the Israeli occupation. “Since 2006, the number of Israeli violations to Lebanon’s air, land and sea exceeded 9,000,” Mansour said adding “we are advocates of peace. We want peace, but we want a just peace.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia considers violation of Lebanese airspace as unacceptable.

On the Syrian crisis, Lavrov said that infiltration and smuggling harm the situation in Syria and increase killings and violence, pointing to the importance of dispatching humanitarian organizations to Syria in order to stop violence from any side in the country.

Lavrov said Russia backs UN and Arab League representative Kofi Annan’s proposal on ending the Syria crisis as long as it contained no ultimatums. “We are ready to support the mission of Annan and the proposals to the government and opposition to Syria. We are ready to support his proposals to the UN Security Council, and not only in the form of a statement but also a resolution” Lavrov pointed out.
    
But Lavrov also stressed that the proposals Annan made to Assad during their meetings in Damascus this month had still not been published and needed to be put up for an open debate at the Security Council

Lavrov rejected reports claiming that Russian warships were dispatched to Syria, saying such “fairytales” aimed at disrupting Annan’s mission. The Russian minister was responding to Western media reports that a Russian military unit with an anti-terror squad from the Russian Marines aboard had pulled into harbor in Syria.